'Saurabh Shukla and Annu Kapoor are the biggest pillars of Jolly LLB 2. I used to joke that Subhash (Kapoor, director) has got six actors from the National School of Drama and four actors from the Film and Television Institute of India and I am the only one from Khalsa College.'
Akshay Kumar holds on to his humour, as he celebrates the success of his new film.
Akshay Kumar's latest film -- the courtroom drama Jolly LLB 2 -- has been much appreciated by critics and audiences and has entered the Rs 100 crore club.
Overwhelmed by the success of film, Fox Star Studios has announced the third installment of the franchise.
But it may or may not star Akshay Kumar.
"It feels good to work on a good script with a director I had never worked with before," Akshay says, at a press conference in Mumbai.
“I think what has helped this film is teamwork and the screenplay. Moreover, Saurabh Shukla and Annu Kapoor are the biggest pillars of the film. I have learnt so much from them. Huma Qureshi and Sayani Gupta have also done a wonderful job. I used to joke that Subhash (Kapoor, director) has got six actors from the National School of Drama and four actors from the Film and Television Institute of India and I am the only one from Khalsa College," he says with a laugh.
Akshay said he did not prepare for his role of a lawyer -- Jagdishwar Mishra aka Jolly -- in the film.
"I have never dealt with lawyers, as I never been in any legal trouble," he says. "Subhash explained everything to me because he was a political journalist before becoming a director. He had covered cases and knew how it works. I have never been inside a court."
Off late, Akshay has posted various videos and messages on social issues on the social media. Will he pick his films keeping those issues in mind too?
"I don’t plan anything," he says. "I decide to do a film only if I like the subject. If I feel I need to bring out an issue, then I go ahead. Like I am doing Toilet -- Ek Prem Katha. Many of you know that 54 per cent of Indians do not have a toilet. Isn’t that alarming? I got a good script, so I said I want to make this film."
"It's taboo to talk about this. When I announced the name, many people called up to ask me why I was using this title," he says. "This issue is right there in your face, so I am talking about it. Why should we run away from it? it's one of biggest problems we have. About 1,000 children die due to diarrhoea in India. It is a real story and I thought if the message will be conveyed in a commercial way, it will reach a larger audience. The government builds toilets but people don’t use them. They turn it into a commercial place instead. India is number one country which does not have toilets in proportion to the population. It’s shameful."
Toilet: Ek Prem Katha also stars Bhumi Pednekar.
Will he ever become a director? "I have seen the state of many directors. I would never want to become one. I want to be happy in life," he says with a chuckle.
